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STRANGER & PREDICTION LEVELSOF COMMUNICATION
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Concept of Stranger & Prediction Levels OfCommunication
We communicate the way we do because we are raised in aparticular culture and learn its language, rules, andnorms.
Stranger" refers to those people at the most unfamiliarend of the continuum.
A stranger has limited knowledge of their newenvironment - of its norms and values. And in turn, thelocals have little knowledge of the stranger - of herbeliefs, interests and habits.
Strangeness Familiarity
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Concept of Stranger & Prediction Levels OfCommunication
Communication with another involves predicting oranticipating their responses.
When communicating with someone familiar we are usuallyconfident in our anticipation, and may not even notice that weare making such predictions.
In contrast, when we communicate with strangers we are moreaware of the range of their possible responses, and of theuncertainty of our predictions.
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Communicative predictions are based ondata from three levels.
Cultural level - This level involves information about the other'sculture, its dominant values and norms. This is often the onlylevel of information available when communicating with astranger. Even so, a better understanding of the stranger's
culture yields better predictions.
Socio-cultural - This includes data about the other's groupmembership, or the groups to which they seek to belong. Thistype of information is the predominate data used in intra-cultural communication.
Psycho-cultural - This is information about the individual'scharacteristics, and is the sort of data most relevant tocommunication with friends.
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Social cognition
Social cognition is a dialectical process which involves bothgrouping particulars into categories based on theirsimilarities, and of distinguishing individuals from theircategories based on their differences
Communication with strangers often relies too heavily oncategorization (stereotyping). Such stereotypes may beinaccurate, or may not apply to the present individual.
To improve communication with strangers we must payattention to their unique, individual features.
It takes more of our conscious awareness to differentiateparticular individuals from their stereotypical categories.
Second, much of our daily communication follows familiarscripts, and so we are not consciously aware of thatcommunication behavior. We cannot rely on such familiarscripts and normswhen communicating with a stranger.
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Uncertainty and Anxiety
In communication, we seek to reduce uncertainty. Communication with strangers involves relatively greater
degrees of uncertainty, due to the difficulty in predicting astranger's responses.
We experience uncertainty with regard to the stranger'sattitudes, feelings and beliefs. We are also uncertain of how toexplain the stranger's behavior.
The increased uncertainty in interactions with strangers is
accompanied by higher levels of anxiety, as we anticipate awider array of possible negative outcomes.
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Uncertainty and Anxiety
Negative Outcomes Damaging our self-esteem from feeling confused and out of control
Fear the possibility of being incompetent, or being exploited.
Being negatively perceived by the stranger.
Interacting with a stranger will bring disapproval from members ofour own group.
Motivation to reduce this uncertainty is more acute when weexpect to have further interactions with the stranger, or whenthey are a potential source of benefit.
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Uncertainty and Anxiety
We may reduce our uncertainty and increase the accuracyof our predictions by gaining more information aboutthe stranger.
Three basic strategies for gathering such information. Passively observing the stranger. Actively seeking out information from other friends of the
stranger, or from books.
Seeking information directly from the stranger by interacting
with them and asking questions. Also, offering informationabout one's self often prompts reciprocal offerings ofinformation from another.
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ORAL & NON- VERBAL
COMMUNICATION
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Oral & Non- Verbal Communication
Paralanguage
Chronemics
Proxemics
Oculesics
Olfactics
Haptics
Kinesics
Chromatics
Silence
Posture & Stance
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PARALANGUAGE
Refers to the rate, pitch & volume qualities of the voicethat affect the meaning of the message
Includes Vocal qualifiers: Intensity (Loud or Soft)
Pitch (High or Low)
Extent (Drawls & accent)
Conveys Emotion- Negative emotions of impatience,fear & anger are easier to convey
Increase rate of speech & volume anger / impatience
Decrease rate of speech Lack of interest
Low volume Non- threatening, sympathetic
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PARALANGUAGE
Arabs speak loudly to show strength, sincerity
Philippines speak softly Good breeding & education
Italians & Arabs speak faster than people from US
Us Americans living in northern states speak faster thanthose living in south.
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CHRONEMICS
Attitude towards time
Monochronic People Polychronic People
Do one thing at a time Do many things at a time
Concentrate on a task Are highly distractable
Are committed to task Are committed to people
Take time commitmentsseriously, value promptness
Consider time commitmentscasually, promptness based on
relationships
Accustomed to sort-termrelationships
Tend to build lifetimerelationship
Rarely borrow or lend Often borrow & lend
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CHRONEMICS
Monochronic Culture: US, England, Switzerland &Germany
Polychronic Culure: Latin America & Arabs
In US:
Being on time for work, appointments, meetings & socialengagements is very important
Punctuality Being Respectful
Tardiness Rudeness; lack of consideration far others
Time conscious cultures:Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong , Australia
& New Zealand etc.
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PROXEMICS
Communicating through the use of space
Halls & Halls (1990) identified 4 zones fromwhich US people interact
Public distance: over 12 feet most formal zoneSocial Zone: 4-16 feet business situation
Personal Zone: 18 inches 4 feet givinginstructions, working closely
Intimate Zone: Less than 18 inches very close friend;shaking hands
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PROXEMICS
People of US require more space than Greeks, LatinAmericans, Arabs etc
Standing too close pushy, overbearing, providesnegative non-verbal message
US people while conversing generally prefer face to facearrangements
Chinese prefer side by side arrangements (avoiding eyecontact)
In US office size, selection & arrangement of furnitureconvey Power & Authority
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PROXEMICS
In US & Germany top executives occupy offices at Topfloor
In France top officials occupy position in the middle ofthe office area
Japanese do not consider private offices appropriate
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OCULESICS
Refers to gaze and eye contact
Direct eye contact US, UK, Eastern Europe & Canada
Eye contact is considered to be a sign of attentiveness andrespect. At the same time prolonged eye contact is not taken in
the right spirit People avoiding eye contact are considered insecure,
untrustworthy, unfriendly and disrespectful
People in Japan, China, Indonesia and Latin America,
etc avoid direct eye contact In India, China & Indonesia lowering of eye contact is a sign of
respect
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OCULESICS
Intense direct eye contact Misinterpreted assign of hostility, aggressiveness or intrusiveness
Minimal eye contact Misinterpreted as lack ofinterest, dishonesty, fear or shyness
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HAPTICS
Refers to communicating through the use of the bodilycontact
Dont touch Middle ground Touch
Japan Australia Latin America
United States France Italy
Canada China Greece
England India Spain
Scandinavia Ireland Russian Federation
Northern EuropeanCountries
Middle East Countries Portugal
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HAPTICS
USA Appropriate touch includes shaking hands
Hugs or other expression of affection are considered
inappropriate in business situations
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KINESICS
Refers to communicating to various types of bodymovements including facial expressions, gestures,posture and stance
Facial expression
Most expressive type of body language
Chinese rarely show emotion whereas Japanese may smile tocover a range of emotions
Asians smile or laugh softly when they are embarrassed or to
conceal any discomfort Thailand Smile a great deal Land of smiles
Korea Man who smiles a lot is not a real man
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GESTURES
Interpretation of gestures
Interest is expressed by maintaining eye contact,smiling and nodding the head
Nervousness is shown by fidgeting, jingling of keys etc
Defensiveness is indicated by crossing your arms overyour chest, making fisted gestures
Lack of interest glancing repeatedly at watch, staringat ceiling or floor etc
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GESTURES
US Moderate gesturing
Italian, Greeks & Latin Americans Vigorous gesturing
Chinese & Japanese Tend to keep their hands andarms close to their bodies
Same gesture can have different connotations indifferent countries/cultures
Vertical horns gesture
Positive connotation Texas, Brazil & Venezuela
Insulting connotation Italy
US sub culture Signifies devils horn
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GESTURES
OK gesture
Positive connotation US
Obscene connotation Brazil
Connotes Money Japan
Connotes Zero Belgium
Connotes Ill kill you Tunisia
In most of the countries head nod is considered as YES,
whereas in Bulgaria the same gesture connotes NO
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POSTURES & STANCE
Posture The way one stands, sits or walks
Confident people generally have relaxed posture yet standerect and walk with assurance
Walking with stooped shoulders, hesitating gait projects lack
of confidence and assurance Walking rapidly and swinging the arms indicates goal oriented
behavior
Interest is demonstrated by leaning forward
Crossed leg sitting considered to be appropriate in US but
at the same time it is considered to be inappropriate in MiddleEast
Showing the bottom of your feet is considered insulting inTurkey, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, etc
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CHROMATICS
Refers to color associations
Color of mourning
Black European countries & US Color of mourning
White Japan & India
Red Africa
Purple Seen as color of royalty in China, whereasconsidered as color of death in Latin America
Blue Considered as masculine in most of the
countries but in France & UK red and not blue isconsidered to be color of masculinity
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SILENCE
Interpretation of silence includes agreement ordisagreement, lack of interest or contempt
Prolonged silence following a question not knowingthe answer
Silence following an inappropriate statement disapproval
Silence
Considered inappropriate in US but appropriate in EastAsia and Finland
Japanese use it as a bargaining tool when negotiatingwith persons from US